6.  The applicant was born in 1970 and lives in Nijmegen.
7.  He came to the Netherlands on 16 August 1998 and applied for asylum. Although his request was rejected, he was granted a provisional residence permit (voorwaardelijke vergunning tot verblijf). On 8 January 2001 his request for renewal of this permit was denied. The applicant’s objection against this refusal was dismissed, as was his subsequent appeal. The final decision in these proceedings was taken on 11 July 2002 by the Regional Court (rechtbank) of The Hague.
8.  Meanwhile, in 1998, the applicant had started a relationship with a Ms A.A., a settled immigrant of Somali origin. The couple had two children, born on 11 November 1999 and 27 February 2002 respectively. The applicant and Ms A.A. were married on 4 November 2002.
9.  On 21 August 2002 the applicant requested a residence permit for the purpose of residing in the Netherlands with his (future) spouse. This request was denied by the Minister for Immigration and Integration (Minister voor Vreemdelingenzaken en Integratie) on 28 November 2002 for the reason that the applicant did not hold the required provisional residence visa (machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf), which had to be applied for at a representation of the Netherlands in the country of origin or, if there was no such representation in the country of origin, at the representation situated closest to that country.
10.  The applicant filed an objection (bezwaar) against this decision, arguing that he ought to be exempted from the visa requirement as he was unable to return to Somalia or, given that there were no representations of the Netherlands in that country, to one of Somalia’s neighbouring countries. In addition, his wife was disabled and required his assistance in the care for their two children.
11.  In order to be able to await the outcome of the objection proceedings in the Netherlands, the applicant also applied for a provisional measure (voorlopige voorziening). By a decision of 5 November 2003, the provisional-measures judge (voorzieningenrechter) of the Regional Court of The Hague, sitting in Arnhem, rejected the request for a provisional measure and, at the same time, dismissed the applicant’s objection. The judge reiterated that the ratio of the visa requirement lay in preventing the national authorities, prior to a decision on a person’s request for admission having been taken, from being confronted with a fait accompli as a result of that person’s illegal presence in the Netherlands. If an alien, who had entered the Netherlands without a visa but with the intention of settling there, could be exempted from the visa requirement simply by asserting that it was impossible to return, this would have serious negative repercussions on the policy. Finally, the Regional Court considered that the refusal to exempt the applicant from the obligation of first applying for a visa did not constitute an interference with his right to respect for family life because this refusal did not deprive him of a residence permit on the basis of which he had been able to have family life in the Netherlands. Neither were the authorities under a positive obligation to exempt the applicant from the visa requirement, as it could reasonably be expected that he apply for a visa in his country of origin and await the outcome of that application there. The applicant had not substantiated his claim that such would not be possible for him, but had merely argued that he had to assist his disabled partner in the care for their children, which, in the view of the Regional Court, was insufficient. It had not appeared that there were any objective impediments to family life being developed in the country of origin. Finally, the Regional Court added that the impugned decision did not constitute a definite refusal of family life being exercised in the Netherlands.
No further appeal lay against this decision.
12.  On 4 November 2005 the respondent Government informed the Court that the applicant had been granted a residence permit for the purpose of asylum pursuant to a temporary “policy of protection for certain categories” (categoriaal beschermingsbeleid, see paragraph 13 below) adopted by the Minister on 24 June 2005 in respect of asylum seekers coming from certain parts of Somalia.